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Former death row inmate in Mississippi to be resentenced to life with possibility of parole

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Former death row inmate in Mississippi to be resentenced to life with possibility of parole


A former death row inmate in Mississippi will be resentenced a second time because of a determination that he has intellectual disabilities

ByEMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press

This 2023 photo provided by the Mississippi Department of Corrections shows Howard M. Neal. The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, that former death row inmate Howard M. Neal, will be resentenced a second time because of a determination that he has intellectual disabilities. The new sentence will make Neal eligible for the possibility of parole. (The Mississippi Department of Corrections viia AP)

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JACKSON, Miss. — A former death row inmate in Mississippi will be resentenced again because of a determination that he has intellectual disabilities — and the new sentence will make him eligible for the possibility of parole.

The state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday in the case of Howard M. Neal, 69, who sent a handwritten letter to justices in June to seek a change to his current sentence of life without parole. Neal wrote that he is in poor health.

In a response Aug. 9, the state attorney general’s office agreed that Neal “is entitled to be resentenced to life imprisonment” with the possibility of parole.

Neal was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to death for the 1981 kidnapping and killing of his 13-year-old half-niece, Amanda Joy Neal. The killing took place south of the state’s capital in Lawrence County, and the trial was moved to Lamar County.

Mississippi allows the death penalty for people convicted of a killing committed along with another felony.

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In 2017, investigators interviewed Neal about the killing of two people whose bodies were found in a southern California desert in 1980. The San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Department said Neal told them he picked up the couple while they were hitchhiking, took them to his home and shot the man during an argument over Neal’s physical advances toward the woman. Investigators said they believe Neal sexually assaulted the woman before killing her.

According to court records in Mississippi, the state where he grew up, Neal was unable to advance past second grade by the time he was 10 years old, and he was then sent to schools for people with intellectual disabilities.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the execution of people with intellectual disabilities is unconstitutional because it is cruel and unusual. A Mississippi judge in 2008 resentenced Neal under a state law that said an inmate must be be resentenced to life without parole if the death penalty is deemed unconstitutional.

In 2015, the Mississippi Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of another death row inmate with intellectual disabilities. State justices said the law on resentencing to life without parole would apply only if the death penalty were found unconstitutional for all inmates, not just those with intellectual disabilities.

The state Attorney General’s office wrote this month that Neal’s case is “materially indistinguishable” from the one that justices decided in 2015.

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The court documents filed in Mississippi this year do not mention that California investigators interviewed Neal about the 1980 killings.



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What channel is Mississippi State football vs Missouri on today? Time, TV schedule to watch Week 13 game

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What channel is Mississippi State football vs Missouri on today? Time, TV schedule to watch Week 13 game


Mississippi State football comes off a bye week with a chance to earn a win over nationally-ranked Missouri on Saturday.

The Bulldogs (2-8, 0-6) last played on Nov. 9 in a loss at Tennessee and have two more games against SEC opponents this year.

The Tigers (7-3, 3-3) lost a back-and-forth game at South Carolina last weekend.

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Here’s how to watch the Mississippi State football vs. Missouri game today, including time, TV schedule and streaming information:

Mississippi State vs. Missouri will broadcast nationally on SEC Network in Week 13 of the 2024 college football season. Taylor Zarzour and Matt Stinchcomb will call the game from the booth at Davis Wade Stadium, with Alyssa Lang reporting from the sidelines. Streaming options for the game include FUBO, which offers a free trial to new subscribers. 

  • Date: Saturday, Nov. 23
  • Start time: 3:15 p.m. CT

The Mississippi State football vs. Missouri game starts at 3:15 p.m. CT Saturday from Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville.

Clarion Ledger reporter Sam Sklar’s prediction: Missouri 37, Mississippi State 20

The Bulldogs are allowing 41 points per game in SEC play, and it’s difficult to see Missouri not having the same level of success. Expect big days from Burden and/or Wease, plus running back Nate Noel as MSU loses another game by double digits. 

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Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Friday, Nov. 22

  • Odds:  Missouri -7.5
  • O/U:  61.5 points
  • Money line: Missouri -300, Mississippi State +240
  • Aug. 31:  EKU, W 56-7
  • Sept. 7:  at Arizona State, L 30-23
  • Sept. 14:  Toledo, L 41-17
  • Sept. 21:  Florida, L 45-28
  • Sept. 28:  at Texas, L 35-13
  • Oct. 5:  OPEN DATE
  • Oct. 12:  at Georgia, L 41-31
  • Oct. 19:  Texas A&M, L 34-24
  • Oct. 26:  Arkansas, L 58-25
  • Nov. 2:  UMass, W 45-20
  • Nov. 9:  at Tennessee, L 33-14
  • Nov. 16:  OPEN DATE
  • Nov. 23:  Missouri, 3:15 p.m. on SEC Network
  • Nov. 29: at Ole Miss, 2:30 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+

Record: 2-8 (0-6 SEC)

  • Aug. 29:  Murray State, W 51-0
  • Sept. 7:  Buffalo, W 38-0
  • Sept. 14:  Boston College, W 27-21
  • Sept. 21:  Vanderbilt, W 30-27 2OT
  • Sept. 28:  OPEN DATE
  • Oct. 5:  at Texas A&M, L 41-10
  • Oct. 12:  at UMass, W 45-3
  • Oct. 19:  Auburn, W 21-17
  • Oct. 26:  at Alabama, L 34-0
  • Nov. 2:  OPEN DATE
  • Nov. 9:  Oklahoma, W 30-23
  • Nov. 16:  at South Carolina, L 34-30
  • Nov. 23:  at Mississippi State, 4:15 p.m. on SEC Network
  • Nov. 30: Arkansas, TBD

Record:  7-3, 3-3 SEC

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SMU drops nonconference game at home as Mississippi State finds bench-led boost

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SMU drops nonconference game at home as Mississippi State finds bench-led boost


Reserve KeShawn Murphy scored 16 points and led a quartet of Mississippi State bench players in double-digit scoring and the Bulldogs beat SMU 84-79 on Friday night.

Reserves RJ Melendez scored 15 points, Riley Kugel 13 and Claudell Harris Jr. 10. Josh Hubbard was the lone Mississippi State (5-0) starter in double figures with 14 points on just 4-for-18 shooting. The Bulldogs’ starters went 10 for 33 from the floor compared to the 18-for-35 effort from the bench.

Why was former NBA star Dwyane Wade at Moody Coliseum for SMU-Mississippi State?

Cameron Matthews made a layup with 5:13 remaining to break a tie at 66. Murphy made a 3-pointer and Kanye Clary made 1 of 2 free throws and Mississippi State led for the remainder.

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Reserve Kario Oquendo scored 13 points for the Mustangs (4-2), Matt Cross, Boopie Miller and Samet Yigitoglu all had 12 points and B.J. Edwards scored 10.

Mississippi State will get almost a full week off before returning to action on Thanksgiving night at the Arizona Tipoff in Tempe. The Bulldogs play their first game of the event against UNLV.

The Mustangs will head to Palm Springs, California, for the Acrisure Holiday Invitational, where they face Cal Baptist on Tuesday.

Find more SMU coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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Attorneys want the US Supreme Court to say Mississippi’s felony voting ban is cruel and unusual

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Attorneys want the US Supreme Court to say Mississippi’s felony voting ban is cruel and unusual


By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court should overturn Mississippi’s Jim Crow-era practice of removing voting rights from people convicted of certain felonies, including nonviolent crimes such as forgery and timber theft, attorneys say in new court papers.

Most of the people affected are disenfranchised for life because the state provides few options for restoring ballot access.

“Mississippi’s harsh and unforgiving felony disenfranchisement scheme is a national outlier,” attorneys representing some who lost voting rights said in an appeal filed Wednesday. They wrote that states “have consistently moved away from lifetime felony disenfranchisement over the past few decades.”

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This case is the second in recent years — and the third since the late 19th century — that asks the Supreme Court to overturn Mississippi’s disenfranchisement for some felonies. The cases use different legal arguments, and the court rejected the most recent attempt in 2023.

The new appeal asks justices to reverse a July ruling from the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said Mississippi legislators, not the courts, must decide whether to change the laws.

Stripping away voting rights for some crimes is unconstitutional because it is cruel and unusual punishment, the appeal argues. A majority of justices rejected arguments over cruel and unusual punishment in June when they cleared the way for cities to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public places.

Attorneys who sued Mississippi over voting rights say the authors of the state’s 1890 constitution based disenfranchisement on a list of crimes they thought Black people were more likely to commit. A majority of the appeals judges wrote that the Supreme Court in 1974 reaffirmed constitutional law allowing states to disenfranchise felons.

About 38% of Mississippi residents are Black. Nearly 50,000 people were disenfranchised under the state’s felony voting ban between 1994 and 2017. More than 29,000 of them have completed their sentences, and about 58% of that group are Black, according to an expert who analyzed data for plaintiffs challenging the voting ban.

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To regain voting rights in Mississippi, a person convicted of a disenfranchising crime must receive a governor’s pardon or win permission from two-thirds of the state House and Senate. In recent years, legislators have restored voting rights for only a few people.

The other recent case that went to the Supreme Court argued that authors of Mississippi’s constitution showed racist intent when they chose which felonies would cause people to lose the right to vote.

In that ruling, justices declined to reconsider a 2022 appeals court decision that said Mississippi remedied the discriminatory intent of the original provisions in the state constitution by later altering the list of disenfranchising crimes.

In 1950, Mississippi dropped burglary from the list. Murder and rape were added in 1968. The Mississippi attorney general issued an opinion in 2009 that expanded the list to 22 crimes, including timber larceny, carjacking, felony-level shoplifting and felony-level writing bad checks.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in a 2023 dissent that Mississippi’s list of disenfranchising crimes was “adopted for an illicit discriminatory purpose.”

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